Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts(1) Where it is impracticable for a member of the Police Force to make application in person to a justice of the peace for a search warrant under this Act, the member may make application for a search warrant to a justice of the peace by telephone in accordance with this section.
(2) Before making application to a justice of the peace by telephone under subsection (1), a member shall prepare an information on oath of a kind referred to in section 117(1) or (2) and, where required by the justice of the peace, an affidavit setting out the grounds on which the issue of the warrant is sought, but may, if it is necessary to do so, make the application before the information and the affidavit, if required, have been made on oath.
(3) Where a justice of the peace is satisfied, upon application made under subsection (1), that there are reasonable grounds for issuing a warrant, the justice of the peace may issue such a search warrant as he could issue under section 117 if the application had been made to him in accordance with that section.
(4) Where a justice of the peace issues a warrant under subsection (3):
(a) the justice of the peace shall complete and sign the warrant; and
(b) the justice of the peace shall inform the member by telephone of the terms of the warrant signed by him, and record on the warrant his reasons for issuing it; and
(c) the member shall complete in duplicate a form of warrant in the terms furnished to him by the justice of the peace and write on it the name of the justice of the peace who issued the warrant and the date on which and time at which it was issued.
(5) Where a justice of the peace issues a warrant under subsection (3), the member shall, not later than the day next following the date of the expiry of the warrant, forward to the justice of the peace who issued the warrant the form of warrant prepared by the member and the information and affidavit, if any, duly made in connection with the issue of the warrant.
(6) Upon receipt of the documents referred to in subsection (5), the justice of the peace shall compare the copy of the form of warrant forwarded to him with the warrant signed by him and, if he is satisfied that they are in substance identical, he shall note this fact on the warrant signed by him and forward the warrant together with the copy of the form of warrant and the information and affidavit, if any, to the Commissioner of Police or to such member of the Police Force as may be specified by the Commissioner.
(7) A form of warrant completed by a member in accordance with subsection (4) is, if it is in accordance with the terms of the warrant signed by the justice of the peace, authority for any entry or seizure that it authorises.
(8) Where it is necessary for a court, in any proceeding, to be satisfied that any entry or seizure was authorised by a warrant issued by a justice of the peace in accordance with this section, and the warrant signed by the justice of the peace in accordance with this section is not produced in evidence, the court shall assume, unless the contrary is proved, that the entry or seizure was not authorised by such warrant.
(9) Where an application has been made to a justice of the peace pursuant to subsection (1) and the application has been refused by the justice of the peace, subject to subsection (10), neither the member of the Police Force who made the application nor any other member who has any cause to suspect that an application has been made by another member under subsection (1) in respect of the same matter, shall make a further application to any justice of the peace pursuant to subsection (1) in respect of that matter.
(10) Where an application made pursuant to subsection (1) has been made to a justice of the peace and the application has been refused by that justice of the peace a further application may be made to a justice of the peace where a member satisfies a justice of the peace that the member has, since the time of the original application, received further information or evidence which is material to an application under subsection (1).